Journeying through the Social-Emotional Dimensions of Nature Learning
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
-by Priyanka Prakash
An Educator's Diary#9
Who wants to even talk about emotions? Do they matter in the space of conservation or nature education? Do teachers even care?
I facilitated my first training workshop for Nature Classrooms a little over two years ago. Newly out of a Master's degree and stepping into the world of nature education, I stood in front of 30-odd teachers freshly under training themselves, with their eyes fixed on me, wondering what either of us was doing there. I had 4 hours with this group to get them not just excited about nature and nature education, but also to push them to take this to their classrooms even after I am long gone. And as someone who had never facilitated this kind of workshop, the pressure was high, and the nervousness was much higher!
As I took them through different nature educational approaches, activities, and discussions, I kept wondering what they felt every minute of this workshop. Were they here because they were asked to? Does any of this even feel relevant to them? Am I assuming that I know a lot more than they do and that they need to be trained? Do I have sufficient understanding of their contexts and lived experiences? Am I truly adding value to their journeys as educators?
I guess I will never know the answers to any of these questions. But what brought about these feelings and questions in the first place was the research I had going on in parallel in the field of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and other feelings-based approaches to education. When Vena Kapoor, my programme lead at Nature Classrooms, recommended that I pick this up as a part of my Master’s internship work, honestly, I was deeply sceptical. Who wants to even talk about emotions? Do they matter in the space of conservation or nature education? Do teachers even care?
That’s it! “Do teachers even care?” - that was the question that piqued my desire to untangle a lesser-talked-about relationship between emotions, education, and nature. Some may say - “Do they even have a connection?” But after months of reading, talking to teachers, and facilitating workshops, I truly believe that they do. And for whatever reason(s), as nature educators, especially in India, we are only now beginning to recognize the crucial role of understanding socio-emotional complexities when teaching about and building connections with nature.
A Pedagogy for Feelings towards Nature
Why do people care or not care about nature? What shapes our admiration, our phobias, our actions, or even inaction towards nature? Can just asking people to “Save the Planet” make them save it? - This began my journey into a rabbit hole of understanding the role of social-emotional contexts in teaching-learning. And I guess I am writing this blog piece, not with the intent to present my work or the framework, but rather to process and share what the journey has been like so far - to imagine practices in nature education that allow for feelings and experiences to become an integral part. And oh! That has not been easy, and remains a work in progress!
The Social-Emotional learning framework is just one among the many frameworks that explore the importance of bringing in the social and emotional contexts of a learner into education. It is also a great and relevant starting point for any educator to reflect on how their curriculum and pedagogy can go beyond academic learning.
When I began imagining a ‘Nature-based Social Emotional Learning’ Framework (a mouthful title for sure!), I tried reflecting on some difficult questions: How does nature shape our sense of identity and belongingness? How does our emotional state affect the way we interact with nature? How do our social, historical, political, and cultural contexts influence the way we perceive, value, and engage with nature? What is the relationship between nature and human well-being? How does the changing climate influence how we feel about nature and even learn about it? And most importantly, how can all of this be integrated into teaching-learning curriculum and pedagogy?
These questions slowly began to shape the practices I started developing (and continue to develop) as part of my work at Nature Classrooms. I was also fortunate to meet Nirmal Govindaraju and Gurpreet Kaur, the founders of the Eikas Foundation, who began mentoring and guiding me as I navigated the complex and evolving space of Social-Emotional Learning. With that, I arrived at a broad purpose for my Nature-based SEL work. Through teacher training and capacity-building workshops, I hope to create spaces where teachers can pause and reflect on their own relationships with nature. The intention is to move beyond the familiar conversation of how nature supports human well-being and instead explore what it means to understand our relationship with nature from a more nature-centric perspective. The goal then is for teachers to deeply reflect on how all of this influences the ways in which they bring nature learning into their classrooms.
Nature-based SEL in Practice
And so I had identified my starting point. Even before thinking about the application of this framework in classrooms, I was keen on designing activities and practices that pushed teachers and educators to recognise their social-emotional relationship with nature. And how they think this can translate into their pedagogy.
I began by trying to integrate some of this into Nature Classrooms’ larger teacher training and capacity building workshops. One of my personal favourite practices invites teachers to explore their Environmental Identity. Using the metaphor of a tree, its parts and life cycle, they reflect on how their interactions with nature shape their sense of self, belonging, and emotions, and how these experiences influence the way they perceive and engage with the natural world. This activity often leads to powerful reflections. Many teachers share that they have rarely paused to think how they personally feel about nature, or how deeply their childhood experiences have shaped that relationship.In another workshop we conducted with the Aga Khan Foundation for primary school teachers in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, we explored an activity that unpacked the region’s Socio-Ecological Identity. Teachers mapped the rivers, forests, and biodiversity of Bahraich alongside the folk songs, traditions, and cultural practices rooted in its landscape. As they reflected on how these relationships are shifting with changing environments, many observed how such local narratives rarely appear in formal EVS curriculum. The discussion ultimately led to a shared realisation: for nature learning to be meaningful, it must first nurture a sense of belonging to the landscapes we call home.
Another way we bring Nature-based SEL into our workshops is by opening up reflective conversations about how our relationship with nature is changing alongside the changing climate. We introduce ideas like shifting baselines and discuss emotions such as climate grief, anxiety, and burnout. These discussions invite teachers to reflect on how classrooms, instead of leaving students feeling numb or powerless, have the opportunity to become spaces where they process and understand environmental changes in age-appropriate and mindful ways.
In Closing…
I vividly remember the very first interview I conducted as a part of my research with an Anganwadi teacher in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. In addition to asking her all about her socio-emotional experience as a teacher and her connectedness to nature, I casually asked, towards the end, “What do teachers truly want?” And she replied, “All we want is for people to ask us how we are.” I carry that response with me to this day.
When we, as external facilitators, NGOs, researchers, scientists, practitioners (or any of the other hats that we identify with), enter into an education space, we often carry our preconceived notions, assumptions, and experiences. We enter these spaces believing that the people of that space need what we have to offer. Seldom do we pause to understand what is important to them, and what they are already doing within their contexts and capacities. Bringing in this sense of mindfulness to our work could be the first and simplest step we all could take as nature educators to bring a Nature-based SEL approach to our work!And, as for how I imagine Nature-based SEL shaping nature teaching-learning? I see it as a way to create spaces where teachers and students connect with the nature around them, not just through knowledge, but through feelings. A space where they slowly discover their own relationship with the natural world, through their socio-cultural-emotional contexts. I imagine our schools becoming a space to pause, cope with, process, and express the many changes unfolding in nature around us, so that we do not begin to feel distant from nature, but instead be reminded that we are part of it, together.Because perhaps the most meaningful way to learn about nature is not just to understand it, but to truly feel that we are a part of it!
Acknowledgments:
My sincere gratitude to Nirmal and Gurpreet from the Eikas Foundation for their constant guidance and support. I’m grateful to all the teachers and educators who participated in the pilot workshop and to those who continue to engage in the Nature-based SEL sessions through our workshops. And to my wonderful Nature Classrooms’ team for believing in me and the work!
Image credits- Priyanka Prakash, Aditi Rao
Written by : Priyanka Prakash, Senior Manager (Education, Training & Research), Nature Classrooms
If you are an educator looking to engage with articles and opinion pieces on nature education and pedagogy, a student looking to explore discourses in nature education, or just curious about these things - here's a curated list of essential readings available online.
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